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188 % Increase of La Coop federee's Results

5 years of consecutive growth

QUÉBEC CITY, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - Feb. 23, 2017) -

Editors Note: Multimedia for this release are available on the Canadian Press picture wire via Marketwired.

On the occasion on its 95th Annual General Meeting, La Coop fédérée announced to its members consolidated revenue of nearly $ 6.3 billion and earnings before dividends and taxes of $275 million for the fiscal year ended October 29, 2016. This represents a 188% increase of profits in comparison to consolidated revenue of close to $6.0 billion and earnings before dividends and taxes of $96 million for the previous fiscal year. Considering these excellent results, La Coop fédérée declares a $55 million dividend in 2016 representing a $20 million increase in comparison to 2015. Additionally, at a meeting held in January 2017, the Board of Directors of La Coop fédérée declared a $10,768,000 dividend payable to the cooperative members of its pork operations.

An organization definetely looking ahead

« This year again, our agricultural cooperative clearly demonstrates its role as a pillar of the Quebec and Canadian economies. For the fifth consecutive year, we are posting strong results; the best ever considering our 95 years of history. We must continue playing our cards right while we continue to grow in the best interest of our members, the agricultural producers » declared Mr. Ghislain Gervais, President of La Coop fédérée.

« La Coop fédérée is brillantly executing as a Canadian leader that spans its operations from coast-to-coast. We have many reasons to be very proud of what we've achieved. La Coop fédérée is today in an ideal position to engage into its next leg of growth despite the everyday challenges which are part of the commody-related markets, including the impact of international trade agreements. The cooperative model remains a credible and relevant option. Accordingly, we must remain proactive and vigilant as we are confronted to the reality of an agricultural world in the midst of major technological changes and where large-size business combinations are becoming widespread. We will have to take full advantage of our diversified and balanced portfolio of assets which results from past insightful investment decisions and our efforts to change and adapt », added M. Gaétan Desroches, Chief Executive Officer.

Outlook

La Coop fédérée and its network of affiliates have an ambitious five-year plan that will allow pursuing the development of their agricultural and agri-food activities across Canada with an increased level of integration in the agricultural supplies and meat processing sectors. At the same time, La Coop fédérée intends expanding its retail sales operations in Eastern Canada. La Coop fédérée also has international ambitions, an unavoidable path. The cooperation model, with private and cooperative players, may it be in Canada or abroad, will remain at the heart of La Coop fédérée's business model.

About La Coop fédérée

Founded in 1922, La Coop fédérée is the largest agri-food enterprise in Quebec and it is the 24th largest agri-food cooperative in the world. It represents more than 90,000 members grouped into nearly 70 cooperatives with operations spread out in many Canadian provinces. More than 12,000 people are employed at La Coop which has annual revenues of $6.3 billion. Including its affiliated network, La Coop fédérée has nearly 18,000 employees and consolidated revenue of $9.2 billion. Its activities are separated into three Divisions: Olymel S.E.C (under the Olymel, Flamingo and Lafleur banners), the Agri-business division (under the La Coop and Elite banners), and Groupe BMR under the BMR, Unimat, Agrizone and Potvin & Bouchard banners). For further information, visit www.lacoop.coop. Twitter account : twitter.com/LaCoop_federee.

Sector review in appendix

Availibility of additional information

Financial information along with a complete operational review of the fiscal year ended October 29, 2016 is available on La Coop fédérée's website at: www.lacoop.coop

SECTOR REVIEW

The best performance ever for Olymel s.e.c.

Through its affiliate, Olymel, La Coop's network is present from one end of the value chain to the other. More than 10,000 employees work every day so that consumers can enjoy high quality pork and poultry meat products. To this effect, all Olymel plants are HACCP certified.

For the fiscal year ending October 29, 2016, the meat division (Olymel s.e.c.), which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, demonstrated exceptional growth with a surplus reaching unmatched levels. This historical performance is explained for the most part by overall excellent market conditions for both the Easterm and Western pork products which benefited from the double impact of strong demand coming from the Chinese market and substantial price increases in North-America. In addition, business acquisitions completed with respect to pork slaughtering and processing activities as well as those completed in the sales and distribution of processed pork products explain a substantial portion of the division's growth in surplus.

Finally, the meat division did not stand idle with respect to partnerships. It completed during the fiscal year, the acquisition announced last year with the ATRAHAN Transformation Inc. slaughterhouse and completed a partnership with le Groupe Robitaille.

A stronger than ever Agri-business division which is reaping the fruits of past initiatives

La Coop fédérée's Agri-business division takes advantage of the synergies between three core sectors; livestock, crops and grains. It also benefits from partnerships in various joint-ventures in Quebec and Canada, allowing to consolidate its presence from coast-to-coast.

For the fiscal year ended October 29, 2016, the surplus is lower when compared to the previous fiscal year considering that the 2015 fiscal year figures included a gain on disposal of assets following the sale of some investments and poultry quotas. Excluding the impact of the disposal of these assets, the surplus of the Agri-business division would have evolved positively.

The crops division realized performances which contributed increasing the surplus in comparison to the previous fiscal year.

The increase in volumes and margins, the royalties derived from sales and the growth stemming from the Ontario subsidiaries also contributed to this increase. All things considered, sales of the Agri-business division post a $181 million increase and are explained for the most part by new sales driven by the acquisition of the agricultural assets of an Eastern Canadian cooperative and the newly-recorded sales of two distribution and marketing farm input businesses acquired in Western Canada.

Additionally, sales of the grains and mill-supply sector demonstrated strong growth as a result of an important increase in volumes.

Strategic acquisitions were also carried-out during the fiscal year by the crops division in Western Canada.

In accordance with the objectives set forth in its development plan, La Coop fédérée acquired during the fiscal year, the majority of the farm input assets of la Coop Atlantique. By doing so, La Coop fédérée ensures itself that it will follow the tradition of agricultural collaboration in the provinces of the Atlantic while consolidating the presence of its Agri-business division from coast-to-coast.

Groupe BMR : a year of consolidation and repositioning

With the acquisition of Groupe BMR in 2015, La Coop fédérée now holds the position of the most significant Quebec-owned group of hardware stores in the province. Groupe BMR encompasses nearly 325 stores of which 306 are located in Quebec.

For the 2015-2016 fiscal year, Groupe BMR achived a negative contribution mostly driven by the very challenging business environment prevailing in the retail sector.

However, despite these conjoncture-driven events, sales of the Groupe BMR increased by $65.0 million in comparison to last year. This increase is explained amongst others, by sales which were recognized for a twelve-month period this year in comparison to a ten-month period last year considering the acquisition of Groupe BMR as at January 1, 2015.

A promising partnership in the Energy sector

As for the Results of the Sonic Energy Sector, they contributed to results for the first eight months of the fiscal year, or up until June 30, 2016. Afterwards, on July 1, 2016, La Coop fédérée and the cooperatives of its network implicated in energy-related activities entered into a business combination agreement covering their assets and energy-related activities with a partner already presnt in the same business sector (Groupe Filgo inc.). As a result, the new entity has diversified energy activities across Quebec. The combination of the strengths of these two specialized businesses in the distribution of energy-related products and their significant regional implication are assets on which the new entity, Énergies Songo inc., will be able to count to sustain its growth.

This new entity will be in a more favourable position to face the major challenges the sector is confronting. As an example, it is becoming more and more challenging to distribute energy products reflecting amongst others, lower volumes, increasing environmental management and operational costs.

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